Bose selects new revenue stream? We like the sound of that

16 Dec 2014

What started as a simple job posting has turned into the realisation that Bose is setting up a new streaming service.

Manufacturer of fairly brilliant audio products, Bose has yet to enter the streaming field – a major revenue driver for operators in the music industry.

However, that may all be about to change, with the company recently advertising for a senior UX designer for cloud music services in the US.

The company is to establish a new centre of excellence for machine learning and cloud computation inside Bose’s research and advanced development organisation.

“Join us,” reads the job posting, “to invent and realise exceptional experiences that will enable millions of customers to rediscover their love of music. We will move quickly and have an immediate and lasting impact on Bose’s streaming music products.”

Bose applicants should have some pretty specific experience

Indeed Bose is aiming high, with a desire for applicants who have worked for Pandora, Beats Music, Spotify, Google Play, Songza, SiriusXM and TuneIn, amongst others.

Music streaming is such a cash cow that it makes sense for Bose to get involved. Last week, SoundCloud sought US$150m in funding, to bring the online music-sharing service’s valuation to US$1.2bn.

The company is seeking new licensing agreements with major record labels in an attempt to compete with Spotify and Beats Music, now owned by consumer tech titan Apple.

Beats will be bundled into iOS as part of an update to the operating system as early as March next year, it has emerged. That means the music service will automatically appear on hundreds of millions of iPad and iPhone devices.

Elsewhere, messaging app Line partnered with two record labels, with the aim of providing a new subscription-based music-streaming service. The newly established Line Music Corporation is backed by Sony Music Entertainment and Avex Digital, a Japan-based label, and Line is in the process of strategising with both companies on how best to utilise their content.

Woman listening to music image via Shutterstock

Gordon Hunt was a journalist with Silicon Republic

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